2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray: 2014 TickTickVroom Car of the Year

It’s officially TickTickVroom’s Second Anniversary. I can’t believe we’ve turned 2! I honor of our terrible twos, we thought we’d create the annual TickTickVroom Awards consisting of the TickTickVroom Car of the Year and TickTickVroom Watch of the Year.

Just to explain our process… Our anniversary falls on April 13. So any car and any watch that comes to market between April 13ths is eligible for TTV Car of the Year and TTV Watch of the Year awards.

2014 TickTickVroom Car of the Year

This post is on our Car of the Year. And, I can think of no other car that deserves the title of TTV COTY other than the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The 3.8 seconds 0 to 60 mph, 195 mph, 460 horse street and track beast is far and away the best car of 2014.

The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is an almost entirely new car. There are only two carry-over parts from the C6 to the C7: the latch for the targa top and the cabin air filter. That’s it. Every other part and piece is new for the Stingray. Don’t worry it’s still a Corvette, but Chevy only held on to the bits worth keeping.

For example, just like all Corvettes before it, the 2014 Stingray has a front engine, rear-wheel-drive set-up. However, unlike most Corvettes before it, the 2014 shuns the too-heavy steel frame, opting instead for über lightweight aluminum. The new chassis is 57 percent stiffer and just under 100 pounds lighter than that of the C6 ‘Vette. Combine that weight savings with an even lighter body made of carbon fiber and feather-like composites and you get an ultra-stiff car with a svelte curb weight of only 3,298 pounds.

Harnessing all 460 horses and corralling them to the rear wheels is a buyer’s choice of a seven-speed manual transmission (Tremec TR6070) with Active Rev Matching or a a six-speed automatic (Hydra-Matic 6L80) with paddle shifters. Long gone are the days of the glacially slow 3-Speed Automatic Turbo Hydra-Matic.

The suspension is upgraded, too, with standard Corvettes sporting 35-millimeter piston Bilstein monotube shocks and Corvette Z51′s getting upgraded 45-mm dampers. Optional is GM’s third-gen Magnetic Ride Control which is 40-percent quicker than the last generation. Basically, the Stingray should be able to handle just about anything a road can throw at it.